Motorcycling is Affordable if You Want it to Be – It’s Up to You

By Paul Crowe

2018 Indian Scout FTR750. A real flat track racer with the looks, performance and price of a real racer.

Is motorcycling expensive or affordable? Yes. Wait, ... what? The simple fact is that you can spend as much or as little as you want to and enjoy it either way. The latest and greatest factory machinery is often beautiful to look at with all of the performance the pros demand, but if you want to ride on the street with a bit of the competition look, have fun and still have money left over for little things like utility bills and groceries, then take a look at something from a few or a lot of years past and spend some time, instead.

For example, the Indian Scout FTR750 flat tracker above is the real deal, if you have deep pockets, you buy it, get yourself a pro rider, head to the track and party with the big boys. Oh, yeah, the price is a mere $50,000. As race bikes go, it's right in line with what you would expect, but what if you're not really planning to make a lot of left hand turns sliding around a flat track, you just like the look and want to ride?

1988 Harley Davidson Sportster fitted with parts from Storz and S&S for WAY less money than an actual race bike. It's street legal and very affordable. You can buy or build a bike like this and not drain your wallet.

If you were thinking about buying an older Sportster and doing a lot of the same work and adding the same parts, it would cost you more than that to do it yourself. If you have a Sportster of your own to start with you can do it for less, especially if you invest a little time shopping for the right parts. Either way, you get a fun ride, the tracker look, great performance and you don't have to break into your piggy bank for every nickle and dime you have. Motorcycling is very affordable.

New is nice, but used offers a lot

Whenever we talk about the declining sales of motorcycles, it means new bikes are sitting in showrooms gathering dust, but used bikes are a great deal. If you're a young guy who wants to ride, don't buy the new $1000 iPhone that probably doesn't do any more than your old one and put the money toward a good used bike or parts for your current ride. It's all about priorities. Do you want to buy something just because it's new or would you rather spend money to do something new?

No warranty to void if you're just learning how

Buying an older motorcycle is a great way to save money because the bike costs less to begin with and by doing the work yourself you don't have to pay a mechanic. You don't know how to work on the bike yourself? Then get out your wrenches and take it apart. There's no warranty to void and you'll learn how it's put together. It isn't brain surgery, it nuts and bolts, wrenches and screwdrivers. You can do this.

When you buy an old car, there's an acre of sheet metal to worry about. Rust, corrosion, kinks and dents make bodywork a major concern, but with a motorcycle the bodywork is minimal and far more manageable, most of the work is on the mechanical and electrical parts. The newest bikes have a lot of digital electronics and software to contend with so an old bike has the advantage of simplicity. You can learn the digital systems later once you have the basics down.

Old bikes do everything the new ones do

When new bikes offer flashy new paint and graphics or small changes in design, what are you really buying? Your old bike won't have anti-lock brakes or fuel injection, entertainment systems and who knows what else, but properly maintained brakes work fine, a carburetor isn't hard to rebuild and you can understand exactly how it all works. Amazingly enough, whether cruisers, standards or sport bikes, the motorcycles of twenty or thirty years ago were perfectly capable of doing most anything a brand new one will do today. They look just as good, and depending on your taste, the vintage model might look better.

There's no excuse not to try it

If you want to ride motorcycles or would at least like to try it out, don't use the excuse that it costs too much, because it doesn't. Buy a used one and then, do everything yourself. You'll learn a lot along the way, build confidence as you acquire new skills, see the results of your work right in front of your own eyes and have something to show for your efforts. If you do a good job in repairing and maintaining your bike, you can probably get your money back if you ever decide to sell your ride.

Buy new later if you want to

The manufacturers want you to buy new, obviously, and articles like this might not make them happy, but if you start riding now with a good used bike, you might want a new one later, but if you never start riding, you'll never visit a showroom in the future. Start with affordable and used, build your skills and if you want a new one later, great. If you stay with used forever, that's great, too. It's your money, it's your choice, but give it a shot. The satisfaction of riding a bike you know all about because you work on it and maintain it, maybe modified or got it running when it didn't run at all is an experience you shouldn't pass up. So, what are you waiting for? Get a bike and get out and ride.

Comments

Spot on. My “newest” bikes are from the 91 model year. All totaled up, including repaired crash damage (crashed one myself, bought another crashed), mods, and whatnot, I still have less than $6000 in 4 motorcycles (not counting maintenance, gas, insurance, etc). The 91’s are ST1100 sport tourers and each now has over 100,000 miles. I also have a 79 CB400T and an 80 XL250S. The last two are not on the road right now (well none are, winter in Michigan, yaknow) because work and house take too much time right now. Might sell, or might just hold them for no reason. I am upgrading one ST to a 40amp alternator. Should go work on it today, but I need to fix a heater first.

Yep. If someone says it’s too expensive, they really don’t want to ride very much and it’s an easy out. Even insurance on an older and lower performance bike is less than for a new model.Simple priorities.No one has to ride, but price isn’t a huge hurdle for those that do.

And some guys just like to work on old machinery. If you’re not going to ride it for a while, registration and insurance is zero until you do. In the meantime, you get to rebuild or restore a cool bike and see your project come together.

My first bike was a 2001 Buell Blast that I purchased 6 years ago. Can’t remember exactly what I paid, but it was in the neighborhood of $2000. It was a great bike to learn on. Sold it 18 months later for $200 less than what I paid for it. So by my math, it cost me a grand total of $200 to get comfortable riding on the street, before I purchased my next bike. That’s about about $11/month. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

In 2007 I bought a 71 cb750 for $500 as my first bike. I built it out to be a cafe racer and have broken it down and rebuilt it a few different times. At no point have I had more than $1500 in the bike in its various incarnations. I have owned many bikes since then, with the most expensive being a $1200 nighthawk 750 and the cheapest being a few different bikes at $100. I also buy used gear from eBay, which helps out a lot. I’ll probably never own a new bike since I have found my joy in working on and modifying older bikes. Anyone who tells you motorcycling is too expensive to get into isn’t trying hard enough.

In 2010, I bought my first motorcycle. It was a 2001 Suzuki DR200SE which I paid $1400 for. It was a perfect bike for my usage need. It always ran great, and only needed regular maintenance items: tires, chain, battery, brake pads and oil and filter changes. All repairs were performed myself, without prior experience (thank you youtube).

I sold it last year for $1200 and walked away with seven years of total enjoyment for an extremely minimal cost.

A friend of mine like to party. He spend an average of 200$ every single time. He does that usually twice a month. Where I am going with that is that I actually own 3 motorcycles. 1983 Gold wing with a full parts one for 500$. (Actually work in progress-bobber/bagger), 1995 Suzuki Intruder 1400 (2000$) modified into a stretcher! (A little fork extension but 13 inches stretched custom-made single side swing arm. Still with the shaft, no chain convertion.) And 1978 xs 400 (50$) cafe racer. I don’t drink, I don’t party. Do the math, that is f**king cheap hobby. (On top of that, in my case, it is all in cnd money…lol)

Agreed to a certain extent. Renovating or cleaning a bike needs space and tools. Of course if you want, you can always find a solution. But how many owners I know that have a second bike or their own not finished because they have not this special part or special tool or not enough time or money. Let’s be honest, a bike is an investment., in time and money, old or new.

Affordable doesn’t mean free, you still need some resources to work on your motorcycle or anything else. If you don’t have the money for parts and have no access to the necessary tools or a space where you can do the work, then you may want to focus on other things first.

I got an old Aprilia RS 250 for track riding and have loved working on it with a mate. At first it was the worry of getting it to perform, be reliable. Then It was the worry of learning to ride this fast and right. Now it’s just enjoying the experience and the journey. Was a costly exercise to get this going properly. No regrets.